RS353 Religion & Psychology Reading Questions- Fuller text Chapter 1 – William James 1. Describe James’ “Criterion for Judging Religion‚” including the results the criterion are based upon‚ and the three standards for judging religious viewpoints. James’ Criterion for judging religion is summarized as “by their fruits ye shall know them‚ not by their roots.” James specifically focuses not on the origins or early stages of religion‚ but exclusively on its results. His study
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appiness Rests on Luckiness Moral philosophers‚ beginning with Bernard Williams and Thomas Nagel‚ have recently broached the topic of moral luck in the philosophical literature. They limit their discussion however to considerations of how luck affects our ability to carry out actions or how it affects the consequences of our actions. I wish to suggest that luck is also an important factor in determining our actions as ends in themselves. What actions we may choose to perform for their own sake
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gsrgj Hedonic motivation is the internal influences guided by a person’s pleasure and pain receptors that instinctually move them towards a goal or away from a threat. This is linked to the classic motivational principle that people approach pleasure and avoid pain‚[1] and is gained from acting on certain behaviors that resulted from esthetic and emotional feelings such as: love‚ hate‚ fear‚ joy‚ etc.[2] According to the hedonic principle‚ our emotional experience can be thought of as a gauge
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True happiness and artificial happiness are two similar‚ but very distinct emotions. The society in which one lives and the surroundings draw a fine line between the two. Happiness is pleasurable satisfaction which results from the possession or attainment of what one considers good‚ while artificial happiness can be defined as a state of happiness because it is the effect of relying on a substance to make one happy‚ therefore making it artificial since it does not come naturally. Happiness is not
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Utilitarianism as an ethical theory Utilitarianism is the view that an act is right if it equals the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people. Utilitarians describe moral actions as actions that boost something good and lessen something that is bad. Virtue‚ knowledge‚ and goodwill are all good but they are only good if they give people a pleasurable existence. Pain is the only thing that is intrinsically bad. Utilitarians focus on the result of an act instead of the inherent
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The Trolley Problems The Trolley Problems Many times in an individual’s life they are faced with difficult decisions. These decisions create domino effect and no one decision is isolated to only the current situation. In the case of the trolley problem‚ the decision to be made will result in death. Either five individuals will die‚ or only one will have to lose his life. In the first scenario the act of sacrificing one comes at the pull of a lever and in the second you must push him onto the
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Write about some of the ways Fitzgerald tells the story in Chapter 1. Fitzgerald uses different narrative techniques to tell the story in chapter 1. Most notable: The setting‚ Fitzgerald uses high level description on the various settings. The narrator‚ Nick Carroway is the narrator and therefore the only viewpoint the reader has. Finally‚ the characterisation of some characters is very strong which helps tell the story in chapter 1 and give a starting judgement of these characters. Firstly
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Gunnar Almgren (2012)‚ provides an in depth analysis of social justice theories‚ Libertarianism‚ Utilitarianism‚ Marxism‚ and the Capabilities Approach. Utilitarianism is the belief of maximizing good for the greatest amount of people (Almgren‚ 2012‚ p. 8). An example of this is taxes that are levied in order to build community infrastructures. This theory is extremely useful as it focuses on the happiness and benefits of citizens. However‚ after reading Madison Powers and Ruth Faden’s Essential
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For Epicurus behavior in pursuit of pleasure assured to an upright life. Epicurus says that the highest good of human living is happiness. However‚ he identifies happiness with the pursuit of pleasure. Pleasure is the highest good‚ and anything else that is good‚ will be rated by how much pleasure it can bring to that person. Us humans can tell pleasure and pain apart as if we are telling apart hot water from cold water. However‚ we should not only try and look for pleasure‚ and we should not try
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Utilitarianism is a theory in normative ethics‚ holding that the moral action is that it maximizes utility. Utility is defined in various ways‚ including as a pleasure‚ economic well-being and lack of suffering. Utilitarianism is a form of consequentialism‚ which implies that the “end justifies the means." This view may be contrasted or combined with seeing intentions‚ virtues or the fulfillment of rules as ethically important. Classical utilitarianism the two most influential contributors are Jeremy
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